


we keep this love in a photograph

by pertrichor



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/F, a bunch of fluff, and is just a big gay overanalyzing ball of STRESS, get yourself a friend that takes cute candids of you w/o asking, maya is basically that meme with the graphs all over the place, maya overthinks everything, of maya, riley is so in love with maya hence all the photos she takes, riley is so supportive and patient, riley loves taking pictures, she's also so in love with riley it's cute, what a kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 20:38:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9288686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pertrichor/pseuds/pertrichor
Summary: "i only take pictures of beautiful things." "then why are you taking pictures of me?" maya chuckles lightly. riley is the most serious maya's ever seen her when she answers, "because you're the most beautiful person i've ever known."orriley only takes pictures of beautiful things.maya is every single one of them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i thought of this concept at 4am and for some reason it turned into /this/. i'm so sorry it's terrible, i'm tired and i just couldn't get it out of my head. 
> 
> psa: riley and maya love each other so much it makes me cry
> 
> twitter: @renasrowan

maya sighs exaggeratedly as she hears the click of the camera and the bright flash that follows when she realizes that, _once again_ , the camera is pointed in her direction. she tries to shove the camera away, but instead receives a slap on her arm. "ow!" maya exclaims. "oh quiet, that didn't even hurt." riley punctuates with a roll of her eyes as she once again prepares her camera for another shot of an exasperated maya.

the chilly air was something that you can always count on during their nightly beach walks. you can also always count on riley to take pictures. maya didn't understand how many pictures of similar looking sunsets one could need.

or at least that's what maya thought riley was photographing for five months.

it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago, when riley dragged maya along to go get her photos processed, that maya realized that of the 217 photos she printed, only the first 30 or so were of sunsets or the ocean.

the rest were all of maya during their walks doing absolutely nothing and everything.

she was, to say the least, shocked. how did riley even take so many photos of her without maya noticing? so many things were running through her head and riley seemed oblivious to maya's thoughts running wild as she grabbed her hand and dragged her out once again into the cold air. maya was brought back to earth from the feel of riley's hand gripping hers and she completely forgot about everything she was thinking about as she focused instead on keeping up with riley's pace as they dashed across the street.

but all those questions were rushing through her mind once again when she feels a gentle hand on her shoulder and maya looks up to see a look of concern on riley's face. "what's wrong, peaches?" riley asks genuinely and maya breaks out of her revery at the sound of her nickname. "nothing, honey. sorry. i was just thinking about some stuff."

a small smile immediately takes over riley's expression when her best friend returns the nickname. she slides down her hand from where it was resting on maya's shoulder and intertwines their hands as she walks them further down the beach.

"what're you thinking about?" riley asks as she sits down in the warm sand, pulling maya gently down with her. maya furrows her brow and seems to be deciding whether she should answer honestly or just shrug off the question. maya ducks her head slightly in an attempt to hide the frown that's impossible to hide and, out of instinct, riley shoots out her hand to brush away a loose strand of blonde hair that fell over maya's face.

at that, maya looks up to meets riley's gaze and sees the same look of concern she saw on the brunette's face when she first asked her what's wrong. she instantly feels guilty for causing the girl in front of her to worry, but riley only responds with a light squeeze to maya's hand. maya decides then to tell riley the truth, so she takes a deep breath as she tries to think of the right words to say.

of course, everything she rehearsed was pointless because she ends up blurting out the question much more bluntly than she wanted to.

"why did you take so many pictures of me?"

that was definitely the last question riley had expected maya would ask and it caught her momentarily off guard. riley could only blink at maya and she seemed to take riley's surprise as confusion so she immediately started to clarify.

"i mean, i saw all the photos you took when we went to go print them and i just thought that you were taking pictures of the sunset this whole time so i was just confused, and, you know, surprised to see that most of them were actually of me. you know what? sorry riles, i'm being stupid, never mind we can just keep walking if you want–"

"maya." riley cuts her off before her best friend can keep on rambling.

this time, when maya ducks her head, riley puts her fingers under her chin and eases the blonde to look at her. when maya finally looks into her eyes, riley drops her hand from her chin and locks their hands together again.

"hey," riley coaxes, "slow down, peaches. what is it you wanna ask me again?" maya relaxes at riley's soft tone and reassuring squeezes to her hand.

"why do you take so many pictures of me?" maya says in a small voice. riley immediately stiffens at the question. "i'm sorry, maya. does it make you uncomfortable?" riley asks tentatively. "no! no, it's not that! i just–i didn't mean for it to come out like that." maya sighs as she thinks of a better way to phrase her question.

"i was just wondering why you were taking pictures of me, not just the sunset, that's all..." maya trails off, unsure of what to make of riley's sudden change of expression.

"oh! okay. i only take pictures of beautiful things." riley answers simply, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

not expecting that response, maya's mind starts to analyze every possible thing riley could have meant when she said "beautiful things." does that mean riley thinks maya's beautiful? overwhelmed with the implications of that notion and scared of what she might confess if her mind got wrapped up around that idea, maya decides to answer her best friend, who's patiently waiting for any kind of response from her.

"then why are you taking pictures of me?" maya chuckles slightly.

riley is the most serious maya's ever seen her when she answers. "because you're the most beautiful person i've ever known."

woah.

now, maya hart couldn't recall a single time she was rendered completely speechless.

but she's pretty sure this is an awful lot what it feels like.

the gears in her mind were going into overdrive, desperately trying to come up with a completely reasonable, _platonic_ explanation as to why riley would say that to her, but she was coming up blank.

they're always saying romantic things to each other, and it wasn't until about a year ago that maya realized her true feelings for her best friend, and since then she's meant every single thing with all her heart. maya always thought that riley was just saying all those things because she thought that's how best friends were supposed to act, after seeing her parents interact like that her whole life.

maya never thought that riley could actually mean those sweet things with their actual implications, and not in a best friend-type-of-way. she didn't think there could actually be a possibility that riley liked her like _that_.

_does she?_

every thought ran through her mind in only five seconds and it almost left maya gasping for breath. her head still couldn't come up with anything to say to riley and the brunette was starting to look more and more worried every second that maya didn't respond.

riley was starting to think she said too much, that she probably scared maya. it was only until maya met riley's gaze, that maya finally came up with a response.  
  
"you think i'm _beautiful_?" maya whispered.

_wow. you had all this time to come up with a great answer and you just repeated what riley said like a pathetic idiot._ maya thought to herself.

_"riley, i think you're the most beautiful person in the world," but noooo._ maya continued to scold herself.

maya's mental battle was interrupted by a sweet chuckle coming from the most beautiful girl in the world.

"of course." again, riley was looking at maya with that look of complete seriousness that maya knew for a fact that riley was being 100% honest.

"i've always thought you were beautiful, maya. i always wanted to be you." at that last part, the hope that riley liked her as more than best friends was quickly extinguished.

riley didn't miss the way maya's face fell so she quickly continued. "or at least that's what i thought i wanted for years."

maya perked up slightly at that and was curious as to what riley was trying to say. she cautiously asks riley, careful not to feel too hopeful. "well, what do you want?"

_hope is for suckers._ she repeats in her head like a mantra. _hope is for suckers hope is for suckers hope is for–_

"you."

_oh._

riley practically breathes out the word. if maya weren't a foot away from her _(when did they move so close to each other?)_ she would have surely thought she imagined it.

_maya's mind is going a mile a minute_ and her eyes don't miss the way riley's throat bobs like if that confession has been choking her for so long. she dares to meet riley's gaze and sees the way they keep darting from maya's lips back to her own blue eyes.

_maya's mind is going a mile a minute_ and her eyes can't seem to focus on anything but riley's lips and her heart is hammering out of her chest and she still can't think of anything to do.

maya is going to pass out.

or at least it feels that way because her brain has come to a complete stop and it isn't helping her out anymore. her head is utterly useless right now, but her heart, oh her heart, has been screaming at her this whole time and she's just now listening.

_kiss her._

_so she listens._

when maya surges forward and softly connects their lips, she doesn't miss the way riley gasps. maya is about to back away and apologize, but then she feels a soft hand on the back of her neck, keeping her right where she is.

riley's lips taste like strawberry chapstick and what she imagines sunshine would taste like. maya's lips taste like cherry and cinnamon gum. an odd combination, but it works. shy lips meet again and again for what seems like an eternity, but has likely only been seconds.

it's like maya's brain restarts from the electricity she feels from riley's gentle touch and she suddenly realizes what they're doing.

so maya hesitantly backs away a little to look at her best friend, scared to find any hint of regret in riley's eyes.

but riley looks... _disappointed?_

maya's confused for all of two seconds before she feels strawberry lips on her once again and maya can't help but melt into the kiss.

maya also can't help the overwhelming relief and happiness she feels because riley wants this too.

in that moment, both riley and maya decide to themselves that they like this a lot.

this time riley backs away slightly, but not before she gives maya one last small kiss. maya didn't have enough time to stifle down the giggle that came out of her. before maya could play it off, riley joined in and started giggling so adorably, that maya was sure that was the most beautiful sound in the entire world.

"soooo," riley drawled after she calmed down. she looks down, suddenly shy, and just now realizes that their hands are still intertwined. "this is new." she says awkwardly, not finding the right words to say.

what do you say to your best friend, who you're in love with, who you also just kissed, who did _technically_ kiss you first, so she must like you like that too, what do you say to her after you just practically confessed your feelings for her?

maya, unaware to riley's inner turmoil, just smiles goofily at her. "yeah, it is. i like it though. did you?" she asks riley timidly.

riley immediately relaxes at the other girl's words and grins at maya. "yes. i did like it. a lot." she giggles.

maya blushes, _blushes_ , and just keeps smiling at riley like some lovestruck idiot and if maya were someone else and she was watching this, she would surely gag.

but right now she's only watching riley and she's genuinely happy right now and looking into riley's eyes, her mind stops again and her heart takes over once again. and she can only think of one thing to say.

_i love you._

_so she says it._

"i love you."

riley looks in awe and this time she's the one left speechless.

for a moment, maya stops breathing when riley doesn't say anything.

but then

"i love you, too."

and it's like maya can breathe again.

because maya loves riley and riley loves maya and everything suddenly feels right in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> i love being trash
> 
> here's my trash twitter: @renasrowan


End file.
